The present application describes systems and techniques relating to displaying application data in computing systems, for example, displaying an electronic document to multiple display devices simultaneously.
Various software applications allow documents to be presented simultaneously to multiple display devices. Typically, a software application renders a document to a primary device, such as a display monitor of a host computer running the software application, and then uses mirroring functionality provided by interface hardware to mirror the display on the primary device to a secondary device, such as a projector. To make use of the larger resolution typically available on the secondary display device, the software application performs a pixel zoom. Alternatively, the application inserts a bitmap of the desired size as part of the document in the host computer, and then uses this bitmap to show a larger image on the secondary device.
Additionally, in the document presentation context, various hardware and software approaches have been used to present a slide show on multiple display devices with different display resolutions. Presenter-to-Go™ (PTG), provided by MARGI Systems, Inc. of Fremont, Calif., is software that enables presentations to be made from handheld devices to predefined display devices at predefined resolutions. This software includes two components: a first component that resides on a computer and assists in converting presentation documents in formats such as Microsoft PowerPoint to a PTG format based on the resolution of the output device to be used; and a second component that resides on the handheld device, reads this conversion-target format and does the presentation to the output device, such as a projector.
Hardware approaches to document presentation conventionally use a dedicated presentation hardware device. Such dedicated presentation devices typically have interfaces for accepting files, making manipulations regarding how the presentation should be shown, and outputting the presentation to predefined display devices.